Neil Pendock speaks to Allister Kreft about Wine Bandit videos.

Wine commentary seems to be increasingly moving from “dead tree media” to the Internet. Is online video the next step?

Absolutely, online video is accessible through everything from your home PC to your cellphone these days and it gives people the opportunity for entertainment and education about wine when they choose. Back in the day, we didn’t really have a choice what we watched — even the SABC test pattern didn’t change! Now, media has fragmented completely and everyone has a voice on the Internet through blogs, Facebook and Twitter. We do numerous wine experiences and wine tours for Under the Influence and wanted to expand that to a larger audience through online wine videos. This way, people can have a slice of the Cape winelands at home or work.

Who are your videos aimed at?

A nyone who wants to discover more about great South African wines. We talk to wine makers, demystify complicated wine subjects and have a good laugh the whole way through, making wine accessible and entertaining. Our wine videos are watched by lots of locals wanting to learn about wine, but increasingly by international visitors too, as SA becomes a better-known wine producer.

With the advertising of alcohol destined to be outlawed, do you foresee any legislation to control wine videos ?

With our focus on teaching, we aren’t too worried about this legislation, but if it is too broad and fails to take into account the benefit of wine education, it could be a problem. We shall see.

Does online video have a special place in third- world countries where literacy is an issue?

It certainly does. What is great about these videos is that they can show wine making and show a vineyard, which is beneficial to anyone who wants to learn. It is a much more powerful teaching medium than just reading a book. In fact, it can bring the theory to life. The Wine Bandits videos are accessible to all with Internet at www.undertheinfluence. co.za/blog. For those areas without Internet, our production team, Lobster Ink, is producing wine and service training videos to take into the remotest parts of Africa.

• Under the Influence Online Wine Videos are launched! Click here to view
• Under the Influence Joburg Wine experiences in April. Click here to view
• Our course material goes online! Click here to view
• Article and pictures from the Riesling festival. Click here to view
• The Trevor Manuel wine ensemble. Built with the recession in mind! See below.

We have placed ourselves in front of a reluctant crew of camera people and will now be presenting ongoing tastings, tutorials and interviews on our blog. Meet the Wine Bandits! These videos compliment our taste experiences and ensemble course topics, they are designed to be entertaining with a sip of wine knowledge. Any feedback will be welcome! Click through to our Videos section to have a dabble.

 
Under the Influence has the great pleasure of presenting two fantastic taste experiences in Joburg next week. One is our wine discovery mini-course, where we explore flavour and terroir of great wine in South Africa. The second is a component tasting of De Toren Fusion V! This tasting only happens twice a year at the farm, and now we are presenting the third. A rare opportunity to taste each blend component of the Fusion V. To attend please visit our Tastings page.

 
Every month we send out course material with our wine ensembles to give accessible and entertaining wine knowledge to compliment the wines. These are now open to all of you to enjoy and use. Click here to view

 
The Riesling Festival was a resounding success. Guests were chauffeur driven down in style by Lexus, treated to beautiful pairings with local and international Rieslings and then reclined on the lawns of the Roundhouse for a picnic dinner and MORE Riesling. Have a look at the pictures and article of the event on our Events page. We are looking forward to hosting many more events.

 
The Trevor Manuel Wine Ensemble is a way to stock up on a superb selection of South African wines, all from our top Estates. We know that you still want to enjoy great wine even with the crunch upon us, so will be packing some of our wine ensemble extras into mystery 6 pack cases, 3 red wines and 3 white, all good stuff, for R495, delivered to your door, in our wooden cases! So, if you need a boost, take a tip from Trevor, and get one of these ensembles now! Email info@undertheinfluence.co.za now.

 
We look forward to seeing you soon at one of our tasting events. Please keep an eye on your inbox for invitations to the Roundhouse and Johannesburg tastings. Have a superb day. If you want to be kept informed of further tastings, please email info@undertheinfluence.co.za or join our Facebook Group!